Survival of the Fittest
by The Agent of Mystery
Summary: You have to stand up after you fall down.


**A/N: Full author's notes on my profile. Enjoy!Survival of the Fittest**

The bike was, in a very literal sense, junk. The only purpose of about half of it was to keep the other half in place. What little paint it had was left over from cars that had been torn apart and this was scratched and mismatched. The wires were salvaged from old phones and the seat was lifted from an ancient golf cart.

To Yusei, it was the best D-Wheel in the world. It was his and he put his very soul into the making of it. It had taken months and months, but now he was seated on the bike and ready to go.

He revved the engine and it purred like a kitten. Well, it actually purred like an engine and even then it came out more like a growl. If an animal had to be used as a simile, it would have been a sick coyote. But what Yusei heard was the most beautiful sound ever produced by a machine.

Yusei smiled and, after slipping his helmet on, sped off on the newly completed bike. He quickly reached top speed, which, though not very fast as far as D- Wheels go, was much faster than he had ever gone before. The wind slapped his face, refreshingly cold and wormed its way though his gloves, sticking his arms and transforming his fingers into ice.

He turned the bike around a corner, leaning into the curve as easily as if he'd been doing it for years. As he did, he saw Rally, Blitz, Nerve and Taka by the side of the road. The group turned at the sick coyote noise of the engine. Their faces showed, at first, various combinations of confusion and shock. Then Rally recognised the person on the bike and a grin appeared across his face ending up so wide the top of his head threatened to fall off. As Yusei rode past, Rally let loose with a whoop and soon all four of them were cheering.

Now Yusei, really only had one option…

He turned at the next corner, circling the block quickly. Just before coming into view of his friends, he took his hand of the handle, shaking slightly but managing to keep his balance, and drew a card. Activating the Duel Mode with this shaky motion, he set the card in the Monster card zone just as he turned the corner. A shimmering portal opened in the air beside him and out of it flew Stardust Dragon, its wings barely fitting between the dilapidated buildings on either side. The dragon roared triumphantly, as if enjoying the moment just as much as its owner.

It wasn't long before Yusei passed out of sight of his friends. He removed his card from the field, deactivating the Duel Mode as he went. With a second roar, on he had never heard before, filled with what could only be called happiness, Stardust vanished, leaving a cloud of glimmering stars, but those soon faded. Yusei continued riding, however, enjoying the simple pleasure of speed.

So, it really shouldn't be a surprise that he went a fairly steep hill without using the break and-

And gravity took hold-

And there he was going faster-

And there was a turn coming up-

And he tried to turn-

But he wasn't turning fast enough-

And he tried the break-

And the tires squealed-

And he was leaning over too far-

And then there was a complex, swirling moment, filled with limbs and metal and what ever it is that they use to fill golf cart seats along with briefer patches of sky and concrete.

When he came to a stop, it took a moment for his brain to stop spinning and another for it to complete a mental check-up. What it came up with was: his hip hurt, there was a dull throb in the back of his head and it seemed like his elbow was bleeding. The last thing on his list was easiest to verify. Yep, it was bleeding but it seemed more like a graze than a cut. Somehow the tumble had produced a hole in the elbow of his jacket, which was a shame because this was his favourite jacket. After confirming that his hip was not broken, but would probably have a nasty bruise in the morning, he slowly sat up. Then stood up; then sat down again rather more quickly because his hip really was not ready to take his full weight.

It was at this point that he saw his D-Wheel. The seat had taken the most damage, having been jostled out of place and a rather large chunk missing entirely. The rest of the bike fared significantly better with only a few dents and scratches in its already dented- and-scratched frame.

All in all, he and his bike had survived in much better shape than they had any right to be in.

Yusei stood again, slightly wobbly but not do bad and walked over to his fallen bike. He grabbed the handles and pulled it up right, then began the trek back home. He even found the large piece of golf cart seat, which was good, because he could put it back on with duct tape. And as he started up the hill, he thought, well the first thing I need to fix is the seat.

After all it's survival of the fittest in Satellite.


End file.
